EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

Like many people, I have quite a lot of stuff that I've written that exists only in googledoc form. In writing a comment response to Wei Dai, I wanted to point to a concept that I realised I hadn't published. So I thought I should practice what I preach, and put the idea out as a post. But warning — the level of polish is likely a lot lower than other things I might write.

Lock-in escape velocity

One dynamic that makes long-term path-dependence more likely to occur in the near future is lock-in escape velocity: that short periods of entrenchment can turn into longer periods of entrenchment.

Suppose that a one-world government is formed, and the leaders of that government are able to entrench their power for a comparatively short period of time, so they very probably stay in power for 10 years. But, in that time, they [...]

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Outline:

(00:32) Lock-in escape velocity

(02:11) Bootstrapping to viatopia

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First published:

October 13th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/sExa4mvRwZCQiZJNZ/bootstrapping-to-viatopia

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

TLDR 

EA is a community where time tracking is already very common and yet most people I talk to don't because

1. It's too much work (when using toggl, clockify, ...)
2. It's not accurate enough (when using RescueTime, rize, ...)

I built https://donethat.ai that solves both of these with AI as part of AIM's Founding to Give program. It's live on Product Hunt today, please support it.

You should probably track your time

I'd argue that for most people, your time is your most valuable resource.[1] Even though your day has 24 hours, eight of those are already used up for sleep, another eight probably for social life, gym, food prep and eating, life admin, commute, leaving max eight hours to have impact.

Oliver Burkeman argues in his recent book Meditations for Mortals that eight is still too high - most high impact work gets done in four hours [...]

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Outline:

(00:11) TLDR

(00:40) You should probably track your time

(02:21) It just got easier

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First published:

October 14th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wt8gKaH9usKy3LQmK/you-should-probably-track-your-time-and-it-just-got-easier

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This is not so much a draft post as it is a draft project. I did most of this work many months ago and just never got around to wrapping it up and sharing it. I ended up (temporarily) removing a lot of pages that were half-finished so that I could hit send. Expect more content soon!

This is a Draft Amnesty Week draft. It may not be polished, up to my usual standards, fully thought through, or fully fact-checked. This is a Forum post that I wouldn't have posted without the nudge of Draft Amnesty Week. Fire away! (But be nice, as usual)

TLDR

📢 Check out the new website and the new online community space. Share it with all your engineer friends!

It's all new, open-source, and volunteer-run. So bear with us and help us grow!

Hang on - what happened?

High Impact Engineers was an organisation focused on increasing the [...]

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Outline:

(00:30) TLDR

(00:48) Hang on - what happened?

(01:22) Thats sad!

(02:01) So whats there now?

(02:40) It looks a little empty!

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First published:

October 13th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ce5JK97KnR2dYWJy5/high-impact-engineers-is-back

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This is a link post.

This is one of many short notes on management that I'm planning to post on Substack. I might crosspost to the Forum/LW if there's interest. Happy to discuss in comments!

There's a difference between:

• Local feedback (”That email was really well clear, it would have been great if there were a summary too.”) and
• Global feedback (”I’m glad you work here. You’re especially strong at written communications, but it would be great if you could improve your attention to detail”).

You could be synced up with your direct report locally but not globally, or vice versa.

You could be giving too much negative local feedback and too much positive global feedback, or vice versa.

The weekly mini performance review

I’ve found it useful to write a short (3-4 sentence) piece of global feedback, like a mini performance review, for each person I manage. [...]

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Outline:

(00:55) The weekly mini performance review

(02:01) What might these look like?

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First published:

October 13th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/GCLuSRGptePQZhhAm/global-vs-local-feedback

Linkpost URL:
https://custodienda.substack.com/p/global-vs-local-feedback

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This is a link post.

Are you passionate about pushing for a global halt to AGI development? An international treaty banning superintelligent AI? Pausing AI? Before it's too late to prevent human extinction?

Would you like to live with a group of like-minded people pushing for the same?

Do you want to do much more, but don’t have the financial means to support yourself volunteering?

Then apply to stay at Pause House. I (Greg Colbourn), am offering free accommodation, (vegan) food, and a small stipend for those who need it (£50/week). In exchange I ask for a commitment to spending at least 20 hrs a week on work related to pushing for a Pause. This could be either campaigning/advocacy, or raising public awareness.

If you have an income, then I ask that you pay ~cost price (£20/day).

Pause House is located in Blackpool, UK, next door to CEEALAR (which I [...]

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First published:

October 13th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/fhiXNB4RS3h5BpQLF/pause-house-blackpool

Linkpost URL:
https://gregcolbourn.substack.com/p/pause-house-blackpool

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This is my personal take, not an organizational one. Originally written May 2025, revived for Draft Amnesty Week.

When I discovered the beginnings of EA, it felt like coming home. I had finally found a group of people who cared as much as I did about saving lives.

When I discovered rationality not long after, it felt new. The intensity of LessWrong was both offputting and fascinating to me, and I read a lot of the site in the summer of 2011. I had studied sociology and was used to thinking in terms of ethics and emotions, but not in terms of statistics or economics. LessWrongers were picky and disagreeable, but I learned reasoning skills from them.

Before EA even had a name, LessWrong was one of the best places to talk about ideas now associated with EA. My first post in 2011 was about what would [...]

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First published:

October 13th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Cd6pct5CADkDjwhoz/i-m-an-ea-who-benefitted-from-rationality

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This is a link post.

I’m a journalist covering animal suffering in agriculture.

Yesterday, Bloomberg Businessweek published a story from "Chicks on Speed: Big Chicken's Push for Faster Birds, But Slower Reform", a cross-border investigation I’ve been working on with five other European journalists: Julia Dauksza, Tracy Keeling, Wojciech Oleksiak, Andrei Petre and Paul Tullis. This work was made possible by the support from Journalismfund Europe.

More about the investigation

So far, our work has been published in Bloomberg Businessweek, Le Parisien, UFC-Que Choisir, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Mindcraft Stories. Two additional articles are expected in the coming months.

Eurogroup for Animals wrote a blogpost about the investigation: "Plight of fast-growing meat chickens hits mainstream media".

Bloomberg Businessweek agreed to produce a short social video about the story. They also released an audio version for Spotify and will use it as their Sunday newsletter this week.

The beautiful [...]

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Outline:

(01:42) Key findings

(03:57) Behind the story

(05:14) Whats next

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First published:

October 11th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/SW498uDwbQMvguzae/bloomberg-businessweek-how-generations-of-selective-breeding

Linkpost URL:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-10-09/chicken-breeding-by-aviagen-cobb-vantress-shows-risks-of-genetic-selection

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

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Today, I became vegan.

Just 24 hours ago, I couldn’t have imagined this would be the case — at least not so soon.

Reading Óscar Horta's Making A Stand For Animals[1] (MASFA, from now on) hit me like a freight train as I turned page after page, chapter after chapter. Now there was something I could no longer unsee — something that compelled me to act in accordance.

Internally, this feels like the first major moral decision I’ve made in my life. I had made important decisions before to align with my values. Volunteering, joining Effective Altruism, committing to upskilling in AI Safety rather than pursuing a Master's or a conventional job, taking the 10% Pledge, saying “yes” to helping run an EA university group.

It's not that these weren’t hard decisions, but they didn’t feel like hard moral decisions. They involved practical challenges, but they simply felt like [...]

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Outline:

(01:38) I

(03:27) II

(05:55) III

(09:11) IV

(09:57) V

(11:28) Being vegan as a case of EA in practice

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First published:

October 10th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/bG9qqPWMrGdDDJEt5/the-5-obstacles-i-had-to-overcome-to-become-vegan

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

TLDR: Through the end of October, we are giving $3 (Up to $5k total) to The Humane League for each new person who tries out Tab for Ending Animal Suffering . It is a free browser extension that uses a few ads on your new tab page to raise money for non-profits. In the post, I share a little bit about what we've learned so far, and also ask for ideas on places to get the word out.

As a longtime forum lurker, I'm excited to make my first post and share my newest project: Tab for Ending Animal Suffering. (In October, we are running a campaign where $3 will go to The Humane League for each new person who signs up, so it is a great time to try it out!)

I'm the co-founder of Tab for a Cause, and over the years, we've raised just shy [...]

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Outline:

(02:36) Interesting Learnings so Far

(05:54) Help + Feedback

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First published:

October 10th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/gFkWJKg6Svsbxur3C/you-can-raise-usd3-for-the-humane-league-just-by-clicking

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Acknowledgements: A huge thank you to the Hive team and the many community builders who have shared their wisdom with us over the years. This post is an attempt to synthesize those lessons. Special thanks to Therese Veith, Gergő Gáspár, Sam Chapman, Sarah Tegeler, and John Salter for reviewing this post. All mistakes and oversights are our own.

TL;DR:

This post walks through some of our key insights from building Hive, a global community for farmed animal advocates, and other communities within and outside of the EA space. We walk through a three-phase approach to community building, and extensive notes in the footnotes. In short:

1. Phase 0: Solve a Problem, Don't Just Start a Group. Before you build anything, a specific group of people needs a compelling reason to gather.
2. Phase 1: The Cold Start Problem & Initial Growth. Obsessing over your first users, doing unscalable things to provide value, and [...]

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Outline:

(00:35) TL;DR:

(01:58) Why Were Writing This

(02:42) Phase 0: Solve a Problem, Dont Just Start a Group (Before you launch)

(04:28) Phase 1: The Cold Start Problem & Initial Growth (Months 0-3)

(07:19) Phase 2: Scaling, Setting up Systems, and Navigating the Messy Middle (Months 3-12)

(11:19) Phase 3: Maintaining and Supporting the Ecosystem (12+ months)

(14:28) Knowing When to Stop or Sunset

(15:44) Common Pitfalls to Avoid

(18:07) Share Your Journey

(18:49) Appendix: Quick Start Checklist

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First published:

October 10th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/SaaLXZv9aobdHcQZA/building-an-impact-focused-community

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.